Chapter 25 - Not My Problem

Hecathe sighed as he continued to walk forward for another few hours and his legs finally gave up on him. He decided to take a small break as he sat down and put the eternal lamp down beside him before opening his suitcase and taking out the water bottle and the food that he had brought with him.

It was probably better for him to take a short break so he sparingly drank some water, trying his best to save it for later. In the end, he still ended up drinking more than half of the water that he had brought with him inside the bottle. The rest was kept away for the next time he felt thirsty enough to die.

He had made the workers at the kitchen pack four chicken sandwiches for him. It was not his favorite food, however, he loved it.

When he was a kid, his mother didn't really have the time to cook for him and Hecathe was a stubborn child who would never like to eat the breakfast made by his maids. Because of this, his mother had to wake up in the morning and make food for him. Chicken sandwiches were, in fact, the only thing she was good at making, and making them wasn't too time-consuming for her so it was only natural that Hecathe's everyday breakfast became handmade chicken sandwiches by his mother.

When he grew up and moved into his own apartment, he no longer had the time to make himself breakfast and he didn't like other people entering his apartment so he kept no house helpers. Hence, every morning, Hecathe would grab some chicken sandwiches from a shop on his way to work. His habit of eating chicken sandwiches for breakfast hence remained a habit that he wasn't willing to change.

It was probably not healthy to eat chicken sandwiches every day for breakfast but Hecathe wasn't a person who cared about his health too much.

He took out one chicken sandwich and happily ate it, planning beforehand that he would save the other three for later, but as soon as he finished the sandwich, his hand automatically reached out for another as his hunger took control over his body.

"Damn it..." He cursed, feeling guilty that he couldn't control himself, "The next two are definitely for later."

He closed the tiffin and kept both the bottle and the tiffin back in his suitcase, however, he still didn't stand up from his place.

His eyelids felt a bit heavy but he didn't dare fall asleep. He simply gave his legs a rest before picking himself up again and continuing on his journey.

Although he had a watch wrapped around his wrist, he still didn't bother looking at the time and hence he had no idea what time it was but he guessed it to be morning already. The reason why he assumed it was morning was simple. Xanie had already woken up and the first thing she did was contact Hecathe.

"Captain," Her groggy voice could be heard through Hecathe's watch, "Are you okay?"

Hecathe couldn't help but chuckle as he lifted his watch and answered the girl, "I'm okay. Alive and kicking."

"That's good~" Her message instantly came back and it sounded like she was going back to sleep.

Hecathe shook his head with a sigh as he picked up the eternal lamp and looked at the map once before walking forward, going deeper and deeper into the emergency passages.

"This place is really sh*t," Hecathe cursed with a frown as he picked up his cloak to cover his nose, a pathetic attempt to try and keep the dust away.

After that, every half an hour, Xanie would check up on Hecathe and Hecathe continued to answer her with a sigh.

Half a day passed and Hecathe took another short break as he finished up the water and the chicken sandwiches before continuing on his journey.

The passages sometimes seemed to be getting broader while at other times they seemed to be getting narrower with barely enough space for Hecathe to comfortably walk.

The whole place was so unevenly built that Hecathe would sometimes need to bow his head in order to walk forward because there wasn't much height to the ceiling to some of the passages.

Hecathe yawned as he felt a bit drowsy but he didn't let it bother him as he looked at the map.

He had already covered a big portion of the path. He just needed to walk for another few hours and he would be able to get out of here.

The thought of getting out of here brought some courage and raised some will inside Hecathe to keep on pushing forward.

His entire body was drenched in sweat and his mind seemed to have already stopped working with his legs also feeling as they were about to give up on him, however, he just needed to suffer for another few hours.

Just a few hours...

Hecathe sighed as he continued to walk and walk.

Suddenly, there was a thought running through his mind.

He hadn't seen any rats yet.

He was certainly sure that there would be all kinds of bugs and rodents here but he was yet to see anything like that.

As soon as he thought this, he chuckled as he commented, "Maybe even they couldn't handle this awful hell."

After walking for what felt like an eternity, Hecathe finally arrived at the other end of the passage. The exit that would lead him straight to Ocasia.

Hecathe felt a sudden rush of adrenaline as he opened the door of the exit and got out of the passage.

The first thing he did was throw himself on the ground covered in the grass before taking in a deep breath and contacting Xanie, "I'm here! I survived! I made it out!"

It took a minute for Xanie's response to come and when it came, Hecathe was shocked to hear that she wasn't as excited as he thought she'd be.

He really thought she would be singing and crying out in happiness but he was wrong.

"Captain, that's good. Follow the map and get to Ocasia as fast as possible. The forest is dangerous, don't stay there for too long," Xanie's voice sounded urgent and a bit cold as she added, "Something happened here. Everyone knows that you're missing but nobody knows that you ran away and don't worry, I didn't say anything. There is an unauthorized investigation taking place. I'll try to control the situation here. You should take care of yourself, Captain. Don't worry about things here."

Hecathe frowned as he heard Xanie.

She told him to take care of himself and to not worry about the situation there but Hecathe felt that it was useless for her to tell him this because it wasn't like he had any plans of worrying about that place.

If it was Alphius, he might have been worried but Hecathe being Hecathe couldn't care any less.

"Not my problem anymore," Hecathe commented as he picked himself up from the ground and looked at the map once again before turning on the compass system on his watch to see which direction he had to take.